Chapter 45: And it all comes crashing down

"Finally." Jordan groaned as he dragged himself out of the office with his colleagues. It was bloody 9 in the evening and he was in a rotten mood. It had been one hell of a day, especially as it was supposed to be his day off. It had started with him having a bloody heart attack when Iris had called out his name from across the street. He had barely gotten out of that situation unscaved. Still sighing of relief, he had only just arrived in the gym to start a relaxing double-0 free work-out -he had promised- when his bloody phone rang. It was that slimy idiot Talbot -he could shoot the bloody bastard by now- ordering him back to the office.

All bloody day he had put information into the nine-eyes system all the while worrying about the accuracy of the information and if he was putting anyone into danger now. 0010 had expressly forbidden him from falsifying any of the data himself for fear of getting himself caught. The information was falsified already and if it wasn't, it was unimportant. The only good thing tonight was that Talbot had asked Luke and him to go and get food for the whole department. Seeing as the company was paying, they splashed a little and had gotten a whole variety of curries at the Indian he had ordered at regularly when he still worked at the old headquarters. It was still bloody good which had perked them all up. They had chatted during dinner and Jordan had made real headway in getting the information he needed. Then it was back to work until they had finally been allowed to call it a night, under the condition they would show up at 8 the next day.

Jordan was not looking forward to it. He was just so bloody tired. Tired of this day. Tired of his new colleagues. Tired of the advice in his ears that went against his nature, even though they made sense from an agent's perspective. Tired of this bloody assignment. But most of all, he was tired of feeling unsafe. To be constantly on edge about what was going on around him. For 5 days now -Christ had it only been 5 days? - he had been walking on eggshells, constantly worrying about being found out. All he wanted now was to go home and lie in bed, watch TV. Like the good old days when he had just been a simple Q-branch tech.

"Jordan, put your phone to your ear for a minute. We need to have a conversation." Q said in his ear and he just stopped. Stopped and breathed because his first urge was just to say 'fuck you', take the earpiece out and go home. But he couldn't do that. A CCTV-camera turned his way and he flinched. His breath sped up. He wanted… he needed…

"Jordan." He heard in his ear, making him flinch again. Anxiously he looked around. "Jordan, calm down." He heard but he wasn't having any of it. He couldn't calm down. He wasn't safe. He looked around him again. People were staring at him now. Strange people. "Jordan, it's Q, calm down." Q? He looked around him again. But none of the faces were familiar. None of them Q. Q wasn't here. Then why was he hearing him?

"You're drawing attention to yourself, agent." The voice had changed. This one sounded stern. Jordan looked around him again but didn't find the source of the voice. "You need to get somewhere safe. Start walking." Jordan didn't know what to do. He wanted to be safe. But was the voice safe? Maybe he would walk into a trap. "Move agent! The voice boomed in his ear. "Unless you want to get shot! If you stay here you die! Move!" And Jordan moved.

He ran. Straight, left, right. Got to keep the pattern random. Keeps them from sniping you. Around the corner. Straight through traffic. He didn't know where he was and he didn't care. He wasn't safe here. He needed to be away. His heart was thundering in his chest, he was out of breath but he couldn't stop. Not until he was safe. He kept going, left right, straight, right, left, another left. There was so much noise around him, but he ignored it all. He wasn't safe. He needed to get safe.

"Look out!" He heard just before he suddenly felt everything and then nothing.

"Shit!" Andrew cursed as he threw down the headset in frustration. He knew it. He knew it was a bad idea to send Jordan into the field. He hadn't been ready. Hadn't realized yet what it took to do a mission like this. Hadn't committed to it 100%. And now the stress had gotten to him. But fuck, he had to finish the mission. It was too important.

Beside him Q seemed as focussed as ever, but Andrew noticed just how tense he was and that his breathing was very regular. In for 4, hold for 4, out for 4. He was pulling up camera angle after camera angle from the car-accident, trying to determine the seriousness of Jordan's injuries. None of the camera's seemed to be able to determine more than the fact that he was unconscious. There was no visual blood so that was a relief. A crowd was gathering though, which was concerning.

"I've already sent for an ambulance and the police." Q said without looking up. Andrew nodded and then went and grabbed one of the other chairs that occupied the office. He was glad now they had moved from the main IT-department to Q's office because the minions would've been horrified to see their friend like this.

After the first day of monitoring Jordan on the computer Q had prepared for him in the main branch, the minions had overcome their initial hesitation towards him and curiosity had started to get the better of them. Andrew was still surprised by how quickly that had happened. His grouchiness meant even the other double-0's kept their distance. But it hadn't deterred the minions which meant staying in the department hadn't been an option. Q's office had been well set-up to handle the mission fortunately and Q had run the tech for him beside his other work. Andrew had been amazed at how much work Q got done these past few days, though knowing what he knew now it wasn't all that surprising.

Since the unplanned encounter with the other Q-brancher's in the café that morning however, Jordan's status as an agent was more or less known by most of the minions. Andrew figured Q's plan was to blow Jordan's cover to the minions completely and move them back to their old spot in the department to be able to spend more time with his minions but was relieved they hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"He's regaining consciousness. Police have arrived. Ambulance is 2 minutes away." Q told him as he sat beside him.

"Good, let's hope he's calmed down somewhat and gets in touch with us." Andrew replied. Q glanced his way.

"Hmmm." Q agreed, already hacking into the London ambulance dispatch centre, the NHS and the metropolitan police to find out where they would take him. "The hospital will be a good place to extract him." He added absentmindedly. Andrew felt his insides turn cold.

"Why are you extracting him?" He asked calmly. Q turned to look at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"You're not suggesting we let him continue on when he's clearly mentally not ready to deal with this?" He asked, incredulously.

"And who else is going to get the information we need?" Andrew asked. Q remained silent. "Exactly." He continued. "There is no one else. And we need this information. So, we need Jordan where he is."

"It's not worth it. It's not worth Jordan's health." Q argued.

"Q, they are destroying the thing that keeps our country safe. It is worth it and you know it." Andrew answered back. It was only then he remembered just who he was talking to and ducked his head. He never would have dared to talk back to Rudy Holmes. The man would've had his head if he'd dared. It wasn't the place of the assistant to question. His role was purely to support and enforce the director's rule. But Q had seemed so much more... human, he'd forgotten his place. He looked back up at the Adjunct expecting the stony angry expression Rudy always got when he was displeased and people disappeared only to see Q watching him with a sad expression.

"Never." He whispered. "Never will I not value your opinion. There is a time and a place of course but if we're alone like this you will always have my permission to express it. Especially you. You owe us nothing after what that bastard did." Q's voice got more and more passionate as he spoke and he even spat out the last words. Andrew remained silent. There was so much suddenly running through his head. So many emotions and thoughts that not one of them made it out of his mouth. Angrily he stamped them all down. No. He wouldn't do this again. When he quit, he swore to himself that he would never fall back into that role. He wasn't the Assistant anymore. He was an agent now. A fucking double-0 agent. And with that came a disregard for the rules. Double-0's created their own. Don't ask permission was one of them. If something isn't forbidden it's an option, another. And he's even given you permission now so get a bloody grip of yourself, he scolded. Q didn't wait for him to start talking though.

"We can manage without the information. Not as well, I'll admit. The operation might not go as smoothly as it would if we had all the information Jordan could gather. But we'll manage. And I'll need Jordan with his sanity intact in the end." Q said and then looked at him expectantly. Like he was saying "convince me".

"What the fuck has the kid done now?" They suddenly heard from the door.